1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a micro lens array, and more particularly, to a method of manufacturing a micro lens array, which prevents a beam on an off-axis from reaching a focal plane of a micro lens, enables easy alignment of the micro lens and a pattern where a focus is formed, and can quickly manufacture a lens having any one of various shapes at a low cost.
2. Description of the Related Art
A micro lens is defined to have a diameter below or equal to 1 mm, but a lens having a diameter equal to or above 5 mm is sometimes considered also as a micro lens.
Generally, a lens, specifically a micro lens, is used in a display device, an optical communication component, or a light emitting diode device so as to control convergence, diffusion, and reflection of a light (hereinafter, a lens includes a micro lens), and it is important to control a shape of such a lens so that the lens has a desired optical property.
A micro lens array may be classified into a sea island type, where micro lenses are arranged at regular intervals, and a line type, where micro lenses are arranged in a straight line, according to an arrangement of micro lenses.
Examples of a method of manufacturing the micro lens array include a method of molding a glass material by using a mold, a method of molding a resin by inserting the resin between a stamper and a substrate, and a photolithography method. However, such methods require a model or a mask to form a micro lens, and it is difficult to quickly form micro lenses having a predetermined shape in a predetermined arrangement.
Also, in the micro lens array in which plurality of micro lenses are arranged, a space between lenses is formed of the same transparent material as the lenses. Thus, if a beam on an off-axis surface penetrated through the space is irradiated on a focus of the micro lenses, the beam may adversely affect an image obtained by the micro lenses.
Also, since the lenses of the micro lens array are very small, it is very difficult to align the micro lens and a mask pattern where a focus is formed by the micro lens.